Friday, 4 February 2011

Chris Port Blog #79. Uneasy dreams. The Titanic again...

Uneasy dreams. The Titanic again. Not Di Caprio and Winslet. Girls see disaster as a backdrop to romance. Lookouts see chick flicks as the foreground to disaster.

The lookout was almost weeping with fury. “I warned you, sir. I warned you. Why didn’t you listen?”

Captain Smith offered him the wheel. “Here. See if you can do any better.”

“Bit bloody late now” said the lookout, dropping the ‘sir’. “We’re not going anywhere. Women, children and rich men to the lifeboats. The poor can stay and drown.”

“At least the children will be saved” said Smith, clutching at a passing straw.

“Sorry” said the lookout. “I did warn you to invest in wireless telegraphy. Plus which, there’s no profit in mercy. Nobody’s coming. That’s the real world for you. They’re just going to die more slowly, and painfully. If you want to be kind, shoot them now. You’ll spare them a miserable death.”

Meanwhile, the ironwork groaned like whale song. The end was scientifically assured now. It was mathematically inevitable, as inexorable as icy water, creeping over bulkheads and swirling through glittering ballrooms.

Do we really have to look forward to another inquiry? It was foreseen. It’s just that people don’t listen. Remember, you were warned.

The Convergence of the Twain
Thomas Hardy, 1912

(Lines on the loss of the Titanic)

I
In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

II
Steel chambers, late the pyres
Of her salamandrine fires,
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.

I saw him onceat a distance.I saw nothing
in his clothing
or face to sense
his sad offence.
He disturbed me
intangibly.
The flickering
of a crow’s wing
across the sun
is quickly done.
But a sudden
fear is summoned.
There’s an aura
around horror
and our futures
must obscure us.
When I saw him
I saw nothing.
A man planning
his own hanging?
What can you say?
Are you OK?
Time must move on.
I trust I’m wrong.
But with the damned
I never am.

MARTY: Bob. I haven’t got long. So I’ll keep this short. You’re a disaster. An embarrassment to music and theatre. Deluded. Chocolate box. Tooth-rotting. If it was just you, I wouldn’t care. But you’ve destroyed lives. Not just mine. Hers. You put her on a ship of fools. And now, I have to listen to her drown. In the darkness. She had talent. She could have played New York. But now she’ll just play the dives. Ego and ice, ill met by moonlight. Oh the heart is a pump working against an ocean. Tragedy? It’s just water.

BOB:(Smirking) But the band played on, eh?

MARTY: For a while. Until the lifeboats heard their death screams. You wouldn’t even let me throw her a rope. You sneaked it around my neck to save your own rat’s arse. Butchers in charge of children. Jesus. Do I look like a lamb to you? Cut my throat, and I’ll spit blood on your shoes. I choose my animal, and I choose the albatross. Walk into any club now, and they’ll turn their backs on you in disgust. You’re a Flying Dutchman, Bob. But you’re not the worst. The worst are those who knew better. I have a different curse in mind for them. You’re the lucky one. Find Pandora. Goodbye.

‘The ship of fools is an allegory that has long been a fixture in Western literature and art. The allegory depicts a vessel populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious, passengers aboard a ship without a pilot, and seemingly ignorant of their own direction.’The Doors - Ship of Fools

The human race was dyin' out No one left to scream and shout People walking on the moonSmog will get you pretty soon

Everyone was hanging out
Hanging up and hanging down
Hanging in and holding fast
Hope our little world will last

Yeah, along came Mr. Goodtrips
Looking for a new a ship
Come on, people better climb on board
Come on, baby, now we're going home
Ship of fools, ship of fools

The human race was dyin' out
No one left to scream and shout
People walking on the moon
Smog will get you pretty soon
Ship of fools, ship of fools
Ship of fools, ship of fools
Ship of fools, ship of fools

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About Me

I am a fully qualified teacher of Drama, Media and Film Studies with ten years’ work experience in secondary and further education. I graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama (one of the most respected Drama conservatoires in the world) with a first class Honours degree in Drama and Education and a PGCE.
I was a writer-in-residence and workshop leader for a Southend-based youth theatre for ten years, during which time I developed my creative writing skills to include playscripts, poetry and songs. With my deep interest in Film, I have now expanded these skills to include screenplays.
I now wish to take a sabbatical from teaching to focus on a proposal for a PhD thesis. This will involve developing new collaborative methodologies for intertextual musical theatre in the context of a resynthesis of art, philosophy and science.
My specific areas of interest and expertise are as follows: Academic, Acting, Analysis, Assessment, Auditions, Collaboration, Creative Thinking, Directing, Drama, Education, English, Film, History, Lecturing, Literature, Media, Poetry, Philosophy, Playscripts, Screenplays, Songs, Teaching, Television, Theatre, Tutoring, Workshops, Writing.

I’m writing a first draft for a musical. It's called Marty Gull (Marty[r] Gull[ible]). It's a surreal, satirical, tragicomic piece of musical political theatre: a cautionary tale of school politics, backstabbing egos and the state of the nation.

I’ve written the first draft libretto using a medley of melodies in my head from well-known musicals.

I would like to extend an open invitation to all budding musicians and composers to submit their own musical interpretations. I would also welcome interest from actors (age 20-25) who can sing and dance.

The plan is to develop a new collaborative form of musical theatre. Once we get a good working team of lyricists, composers, musicians, actors and designers together we can decide on the final evolution of the piece and arrange copyright accordingly. I would like to submit or even take the piece to Central as a work-in-progress.

Ultimately, I would be interested in using all of this as a springboard for a thesis on new art forms and musical theatre. But, most of all, I would love to have the opportunity of working with kind, creative and talented people.

If you like the sound of any of this, please post a comment at http://martygull.blogspot.com/or get in touch with me through one of the following methods: